Greater New Orleans

Shell Oil reports light oil slick offshore in Gulf of Mexico

Shell Oil reports that it has mobilized an oil spill response vessel after a light, 10-square-mile oil slick was spotted between two of its major production sites in the Gulf of Mexico.

A Shell Oil statement Wednesday says it notified the National Response Center of what it describes as "a light sheen in the central portion of the Gulf of Mexico, between the Mars and Ursa production areas" about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.

Shell says it doesn't know the source of the slick but has found no evidence it originated from Mars or Ursa wells. Nevertheless, out of what it describes as "prudent caution," it's dispatched an oil spill response vessel equipped to contain and skim oil slicks and requested aerial surveillance of the 1-by-10-mile sheen.